3-day itinerary · United Kingdom
A realistic first-timer plan that keeps each day in one part of the city: royal Westminster, the Tower of London and Bankside, then the British Museum, Covent Garden and the London Eye. Every stop comes with walking distances and the opening rules that matter in 2026.
Updated 11 September 2026 · 7 official sources checked · report an error
The plan at a glance
London is huge, but its landmarks fall into clear areas, so each day stays in one of them: day one walks from Westminster Abbey past Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square; day two starts at the Tower of London and follows the Thames to St Paul's and Tate Modern; day three begins at the British Museum and ends on the South Bank at the London Eye. The great national museums are free, but buy tickets for the Tower and Westminster Abbey online before you go.
At a glance
Day 1
Start at Westminster Abbey, see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, cross St James's Park to Buckingham Palace, then walk up the Mall to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.
Morning
Every coronation since William the Conqueror's on Christmas Day 1066 has taken place here. Henry III began the Gothic church you see today in 1245; inside are the tombs of kings and queens, the shrine of Edward the Confessor and Poets' Corner, where Geoffrey Chaucer is buried.
Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin rebuilt the Palace of Westminster after a fire destroyed most of the old palace in 1834. Big Ben is really the name of the Great Bell inside the clock tower at its north end, which was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012. See the whole river front from Westminster Bridge.
From the Blue Bridge over the lake you can see Buckingham Palace at one end and the rooftops of Whitehall at the other. Pelicans have lived in the park since a Russian ambassador presented the first ones to King Charles II in 1664.
The monarch's official London residence looks down the Mall from behind the Victoria Memorial. Changing the Guard takes place in its forecourt on set days, and the State Rooms open to visitors in summer.
Midday
Afternoon
Named after Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the square is watched over by Nelson's Column and four bronze lions by Edwin Landseer. The Fourth Plinth, in the north-west corner, shows a changing series of contemporary artworks.
Founded in 1824, the gallery holds Western European paintings from the 13th century to 1900, from Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait to Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Turner's The Fighting Temeraire. The collection is free to visit.
Evening
Day 2
See the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, cross Tower Bridge, follow the river to Borough Market for lunch, then climb St Paul's dome, cross the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern and end the day at Shakespeare's Globe.
Morning
William the Conqueror built the White Tower after 1066, and over the centuries the fortress has served as a royal palace, prison, armoury and treasury. Today it guards the Crown Jewels, and the Yeoman Warders lead tours full of stories of its prisoners and the ravens that live here.
Opened in 1894, the bascule bridge still raises its roadway to let tall ships through. Walking across is free; a ticket to the Tower Bridge exhibition takes you up to the high-level walkways, where glass floors look straight down on the road and the river.
Midday
One of London's oldest food markets sits under the railway arches beside Southwark Cathedral, with stalls of British cheese, bread and produce and plenty of hot street food for lunch.
Afternoon
Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece replaced the medieval cathedral lost in the Great Fire of 1666 and was declared complete in 1711. Climb the steps inside the dome to the Whispering Gallery, then on to the outside galleries for views across the City.
The steel footbridge opened in June 2000 and closed two days later, when it swayed under the crowds; it reopened in 2002 once dampers had been fitted. It runs in a straight line from St Paul's across the Thames to Tate Modern.
Britain's national gallery of international modern and contemporary art opened in 2000 in the former Bankside Power Station, whose vast Turbine Hall now hosts large commissioned installations. The collection is free to visit.
Evening
This reconstruction of an Elizabethan open-air playhouse opened in 1997 near the site of the original Globe, built in 1599. Standing tickets in the yard are the cheapest way to see a play, just as the groundlings did four centuries ago, and guided tours of the theatre run during the day.
Day 3
Spend the morning in the British Museum, have lunch around Covent Garden's market hall, then cross the river to ride the London Eye and watch the lights come on over Westminster.
Morning
Founded in 1753, the museum spans two million years of human history, from the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures to the Anglo-Saxon treasures of Sutton Hoo. Its Great Court, roofed in glass in 2000, is the covered heart of the building.
Midday
London's fruit and vegetable market moved out in 1974, and its 1830 market hall is now full of shops, cafés and stalls. Street performers draw crowds on the piazza in front of St Paul's Church, and the Royal Opera House stands on its north-east corner.
Afternoon
Built for the millennium, the 135-metre wheel turns so slowly that you step aboard while it moves. One rotation in its glass capsules takes about 30 minutes, with views over the Houses of Parliament and far across the city.
Evening
Before you go
Questions
Three days cover the headline sights of Westminster, the Tower and the City, and the British Museum at a comfortable pace. A fourth day allows the museums of South Kensington, a boat down the Thames to Greenwich or an afternoon in Hyde Park.
Buy tickets online for the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. The British Museum and the National Gallery are free, but booking a free timed ticket gets you priority entry on busy days.
Westminster Abbey is open only for worship on Sundays and St Paul's Cathedral's sightseeing hours run from Monday to Saturday, so avoid Sunday for days one and two. Borough Market is closed on Mondays. Day three works on any day of the week.
Touch in with a contactless bank card or phone. Pay-as-you-go fares are capped each day and week, but only if you use the same card or device for every journey.
Between sights it comes to roughly 2 to 3.5 km a day in a straight line, and every day can be done entirely on foot.
More time or less
Keep exploring
THE TRIPWOA APP
Build days around what you love. Follow your route, find your next stop and keep the moments along the way.
Available for Android
A day that feels like you.
Places and coordinates: Wikidata and Tripwoa's open-data place catalog (Overture Maps Foundation, © OpenStreetMap contributors). Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited on each image. Practical rules: the official sources linked in each note, checked in September 2026.
How this plan was made: Tripwoa's planner drafted the day order from real coordinates and typical visit times. Each stop was then reviewed, reordered where needed and rewritten with AI assistance. Walking distances are straight-line estimates, so allow a little extra time on real streets.